VCU Help

I'm a newcomer here so i may be asking a question that seems a little daft but how can i check if the vcu is working? Ive been reading all the posts on the subject and i'm more confused now than when i started. I tried to help a guy off some mud and all i seemed to get was the front nearside wheel spinning madly and no traction despite being on good ground. I.m faced with the prospect of towing a 2 berth caravan up a slippery grass slope in the spring and i'm starting to wish i'd bought that defender. Shame cus i quite like the freelander

Is the rear prop in place? If so, jack the rear end up so that one wheel is off the ground and chock the others. With the handbrake off (hence the need for chocks), put a socket and a breaker bar over the center wheel hub nut of the jacked up wheel and try to turn it.

If it doesn't turn at all then your VCU is seized shut, if it turns easily then it is seized open or more likely some daft twunt has replaced it with one of those drilled out pieces of garbage off ebay.

If it's ok then it should take a fair effort to turn the wheel with the breaker bar. The only trusted source for refurbished VCU's is Bell Engineering, they do them on an exchange basis for £230 complete with new GKN bearings.

Welcome,

Will.

Thats magic thanks , i'll try that tomorrow. is it a diy job to change or should i be looking for a garage?

Nomad62 said:

Thats magic thanks , i'll try that tomorrow. is it a diy job to change or should i be looking for a garage?

Click to expand...

Not difficult if you have decent sockets and some ramps. Where are you mate? Could be one of us local who could give you a hand .

i have tools and can borrow ramps. i'm in northamptonshire. I'll do the test first and see what happens and get back.
cheers.

Good luck .

Done the test and i think all is well. Not sure how much effort it should require to move the bar. I'm a six foot plus builder and i had to get my weight behind it but it turned ok. Its definately not seized anyway so guess what i need to do is find some mud. not to hard at the moment.

Many thanks for the help

WLJayne said:

The only trusted source for refurbished VCU's is Bell Engineering, they do them on an exchange basis for £230 complete with new GKN bearings.

.

Click to expand...

I got mine refurbished by Landrovercity.com - came back in less than a week and seems ok to me!

bukko said:

I got mine refurbished by Landrovercity.com - came back in less than a week and seems ok to me!

Click to expand...

That's good , nice to know there's somewhere else to have it done. Mostly you hear about Bell round these parts as it's literally only Hippo transmission that they do .

Good to hear it's ok mate! Yes indeed go find some mud!